(Editors note: Iditarod has a long
well-documented history of dog deaths, illnesses and injuries.
Mushers sit or lie down on their sleds and sometimes sleep while
racing their dogs into the ground. Iditarod mushers don't deserve
awards.)

ALASKA SPORTS DIGEST Daily News staffsports@adn.com

Four months ago, Lance Mackey became the first
musher to win both the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race and
the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race in the same year, a feat for years
considered impossible.

That apparently wasn't enough to be named the
country's best outdoor athlete.

Mackey learned that Wednesday night at a ceremony
honoring the 2007 ESPY winners, losing to a guy who spent less than
12 hours in Alaska, running 26.2 miles.

Dean Karnazes of San Francisco won the award at
Hollywood's Kodak Theatre for running 50 marathons in 50 days,
including the Mayor's Marathon course in Anchorage in early October.

"The course was beautiful," Karnazes said at the
time. "The leaves on the trail, it was gorgeous."

Mackey could not be reached for comment on
Thursday. He was on a flight back to his hometown of Fairbanks.

Fans cast a record 12.5 million votes in 38
different categories for the event, which will be televised at 8:30
p.m. Sunday on ESPN (cable Channel 34) in Anchorage. Vote totals in
the ESPY's best outdoor athlete category were not available.